Forbes: The 10 Most Powerful Female Celebrities of 2012

The 10 Most Powerful Female Celebrities of 2012

These 10 gorgeous women don't just count their money. Instead, they put it to work, either in building business empires or taking the lead on important philanthropic work around the world. (AP/Getty/AP)

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The 10 Most Powe...These 10 gorgeous women don't just count their money. Instead, they put it to work, either in building business empires or taking the lead on important philanthropic work around the world. (AP/Getty/AP)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

10. Gisele Bundc...The world's most powerful supermodel is still an endorsement queen at 32, especially in her native Brazil. She shills for brands such as Pantene, Esprit, and Versace, and makes a percentage of profits on Ipanema flip-flops and other products bearing her name. Between those commitments, modeling gigs and independent business ventures (her natural skincare line Sejaa has been in talks with Shiseido for over a year on an acquisition deal) the mom of two-year-old Ben pulled in an estimated $45 million in the past twelve months and still had time in her busy schedule to act as an ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program. Through her association with the program, Bundchen is credited with planting over 50,000 trees in Brazil this year. In other works of goodwill the famous face donated $1 million to the Japanese Red Cross for Earthquake relief and launched a model search in Brazil's most impoverished areas in an initiative which aims to boost the self esteem of Brazil's slum dwellers. (AP)

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9. JK RowlingHarry Potter's creator moves into the big kid's section this fall. Rowling's first adult offering, a dark comedy titled "The Casual Vacancy," is due to be published in the U.K. and U.S. this September. But the first billionaire author is still earning off of the young wizard. The books finally became available in digital form in 2012 via the online store Pottermore, with Rowling, who shrewdly held onto e-book rights rather than sign them over to her publishers, pocketing much of the sale price. The Pottermore store did over $4 million in sales in its first month. To date, she is the only author to have negotiated such a deal. 2012 marks the 15th anniversary in the U.K. of "Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone" (Note: The U.S. edition titled The Sorcerer's Stone was published in 1998); the book was published with an initial print-run of just 500 hardback copies in 1997, which was standard at the time for a first novel. First edition copies have since sold for over $30,000. Rowling appeared in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. (AP)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

8. Sofia VergaraVergara isn't just another pretty star, although 2012 saw her become the highest-paid female actress on television. Instead, she's the mega-watt indicator of a sweeping trend in media to capture the $1 trillion Hispanic consumer market. As one member of the "Modern Family" cast, the 40-year-old Colombian actress is at the top of her game; she just received her second Emmy nomination and the cast is famously playing hard-ball with 20th Century Fox for a much bigger payday. But behind the scenes Vergara's a critical co-founder of a 16-year-old talent management and new media company, LatinWE, which pulled in an estimated $27 million last year. A Pepsi spokeswoman calls the company "the connective tissue between Pepsi and the Hispanic marketplace." (AP)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

7. Angelina Joli...Angelina Jolie is renowned as an Academy Award-winning actress, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, and, as of April 2012, a special envoy to the High Commissioner of the UNHCR, the U.N.'s special agency for refugees, a growing global crisis. The mother of six has had a busy year. On the money front, it was a quiet year for Jolie in Hollywood with no big blockbuster premieres, but she still pulled in $20 million thanks to residuals and smart endorsement campaigns. As a fierce advocate for refugee rights, in June she donated $100,000 to the UNHCR to assist Syrian refugees, telling reporters that "Every individual refugee matters. Each has their own story. Each has suffered more than I could ever bear." Jolie last visited Syria in June, 2011, when she was welcomed by refugees with a sign that read, "Goodness Angel of the World, Welcome." Since then an estimated 500,000 people have become displaced from the troubled country. The two-time Davos speaker regularly opens her wallet through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which donated $2.3 million to various charitable programs in 2010, most notably Doctors without Borders. (AP)

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6. Ellen DeGener...The star and executive producer of the daytime talk-show hit "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (now in its tenth season and averaging three million viewers per episode) also put her muscle behind friend Bethenny Frankel's daytime future in 2012; she acted as executive producer on Frankel's eponymous daytime debut during a six week test this summer. But Degeneres, 54, doesn't just report on the trends--she's at the forefront of them. When activist group One Million Moms raised a public outcry over JC Penney's decision to use openly gay DeGeneres as its spokesperson the company rallied behind her--and rightly so. It's rumored Penney's paid DeGeneres an astonishing $20 million for the two-year campaign. She also campaigned for a lowered MPAA rating for the March debut of the feature film "Bully," which was rated R and DeGeneres said "was an important picture for everyone to see" on the topic of bullying among American youth. (WireImage/Getty Images)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

5. ShakiraThe Colombian singer-songwriter launched her music career at age 13 and has since sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, earned two Grammy awards and seven Latin Grammies. She is also a UNICEF ambassador and founder of the Barefoot Foundation, which she established in 1996 to improve and provide early education systems around the world. Education, she says, provides an escape for poverty and violence, and 72 million children are unable to attend primary school. In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, Shakira donated $400,000 to aid in providing meals, water and sanitation to the country's schools during reconstruction. To promote her cause, she has met with world leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama and Israel President Shimon Peres and recruited power players like Howard Buffett, son of the famed investor, to Barefoot's board, which lobbies governments to provide more funds to education and school construction. A globally influential artist, Shakira will perform in Azerbaijan during the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2012 and is reportedly nearing a $60 million negotiated deal between former record label Sony and concert producer Live Nation for her next three albums and tours. (AP)

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4. Jennifer Lope...The Latina performer may be the most powerful entertainer on the planet. She raked in an estimated $52 million last year with projects in almost every corner of the industry. She has successful fragrance and clothing lines, several lucrative endorsements and a revived film and television career. Through her company Nuyorican Productions she produced and starred in Latin singing competition show "Q'Viva" for Fox and is developing an hour-long drama for ABC Family. In 2012 she launched her first international music tour--making stops in the U.S., South America, Europe and the Middle East--but decided not to return to reality competition series "American Idol," where she was a judge for two years. "I'm a little bit tired now, I'm not going to lie," Lopez told Forbes in May. She still makes time to give back. Her philanthropic arm, the Lopez Family Foundation, which she founded with her sister to improve the health and well-being of women and children around the world, is developing telemedicine programs in Puerto Rico, Panama and Los Angeles. Lopez is also the first female spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in its 152-year history. (Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Getty Images)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

3. Beyonce Knowl...In Beyonce's 2011 anthem, "Girls (Run The World)," she champions women who are "strong enough to bear the children, then get back to business." And in 2012, she did just that. After giving birth to daughter Blue Ivy Carter (with rapper Jay-Z) in January, Knowles hit the stage in May for a sold-out four-night performance she dubbed "Back to Business." She still earned big in an off-year, cashing in on old hits and new album "4," which went platinum in the U.S., as well as non-musical ventures like her House of Dereon clothing line and endorsement deals.. One of the best-selling musicians of all time (she's earned 16 Grammy awards), Knowles has become a role model for women of all ages. In 2011 she partnered with the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on diversity and community service in the media to create a video in support of the Obama Administration's "Get Moving" campaign that featured a remix of the 2007 hit "Get Me Bodied." (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

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2. Lady GagaLady Gaga may have been ousted by J.Lo on the top spot 2012 Celeb 100, but she still holding court over some 26 million Little Monsters. She raked in $52 million over the past year, a massive haul for the artist, whose "Born This Way Ball" tour kicked off in April and continues through the fall. But in addition to the success of her latest album, "Born This Way," which went platiunum twice in the U.S. and three times over in the U.K., and the launch of her very own social network, Gaga focused on philanthropic work in 2012. She continues to work with the MAC AIDS Foundation and announced the launch of her own non-profit, the Born This Way Foundation, which is underwritten by the MacArthur foundation and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Always one to flex her muscle, Gaga enlisted friend and mentor Oprah Winfrey for the kick-off event in February. In July, Office Depot officials say they hope to create a "braver, kinder school year" for students by partnering with the Born This Way Foundation for back-to-school. The retail outlet pledged $1 million to Gaga's campaign. (AP)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

1. Oprah WinfreyThe queen of media has upped her on-air presence on 24-hour cable channel OWN, bringing in the network's biggest audiences with exclusive interviews with Whitney Houston's family, the Kardashian clan and fellow power woman Lady Gaga. Although the network has struggled with financial losses and disappointing ratings, this year it secured a deal with Comcast to earn subscriber fees and increase the number of households that carry it to 83 million. Winfrey's also revived some former hits. To the delight of publishers everywhere, her popular book club will return on OWN and online, with some updates to include e-book readers. She will also return to the big screen with a role in "The Butler," a true story about a man who served eight U.S. presidents. Winfrey received an Oscar nomination for "The Color Purple" at the beginning of her career in 1985. (Blue Wasp/Splash News/Newscom)